Loosen Up!

"Stab some people for me!"

"You got it, love!"

Yep, it's a normal conversation for us, and my wife's way of wishing me a good practice and encouraging me to work hard.

Since I began fencing, I noticed, and it was mentioned to me, on a few occasions, that I always seems to start my matches a bit stiff and a bit too cerebral (see past post "Out of the Head, Into the Hands").

I headed down to practice, listening to Disturbed and just not giving the upcoming practice a lot of thought outside of stabbing a few people for my wife.

As I faced my first opponent and just before saluting, I bounced up and down a bit (something from my fighter days), then saluted and settled in.

I felt myself much more fluid than usual, it led to some successes!  I worked on keeping my weight to the balls of my feet more, making my attacks, counters, and blocks flow with one another more.
There were some encouraging results.

I'm still telegraphing here and there but, hopefully, I can keep the cinder blocks off my feet from the beginning.

Now, to continue researching footwork drills!